Life’s a "Beach"...Happiness is: “A Day at the Beach”… or is it??? Ahh…the life of a child…So wistfully happy, and ultimately carefree. With not a care in the world, a child is free…free from life’s stresses, and so it is, and so it should be the best time of life. This state of being is usually true of most typical children, but to most of those that are within the Autism Spectrum…it is not. For these children, life in general is just the opposite. Instead of being carefree…they are worried. Instead of being happy…they are frustrated, and fretful. Life for them can be “too Loud”, “too Confusing”, or just “too Much”… For example, I give you…”A Day at the Beach…” The sounds of the waves…so very pleasant, and relaxing…for Us, and yet for them, these same sounds that can relax us and even lull us to sleep…can be as a “Frightening Roar” to these children. Let’s add just another sensory component to our scene, shall we: The “feel’ of the warm sand, as it squeezes between our toes…it is a wonderful sensation …for Us, and yet for them, the texture of this same sand is as an extreme irritant, and it’s sensation attacks their “Tactile Sense”, and it can be painful to them. Let’s add to this picture yet again… “The Bright Sunny Day”, as the sun beams and glistens on the water like sparkling diamonds…Beautiful…Yes…for Us, and yet for them, the bright sun is too bright, as they cover their eyes, in search of shade, and relief from the onslaught of the sun. Add the occasional sounds of the “Sea Gulls”. as we watch in delight, while they soar and land upon the shore, lifting their heads and calling to whomever may hear them…an intriguing delight for Us, and yet these same sounds are as literal “Shrieks” that jump out of the air suddenly, and startle them to their very core. And so… “A Day at the Beach” …for many on the Autism Spectrum…really is NOT… “A Day at the Beach”… It is very much a stressful and dramatically exhausting endeavor for them…and just the opposite from the way that we think of the occasion, and the expression that we loosely use to describe something easy and stress free Never will I forget the day that I took my little boy to the beach for a “Treasure Hunt”. He was just 8 years old and completely absorbed in mind and heart with “Pirates”…as most little boys of that age are. Well I was so excited, as I prepared for the day, and carefully painted the wooden treasure box, secretly after he went to bed, and I was thrilled with it as it shone of a beautiful shiny gold. I would smile with anticipation as I took needle and thread to string the most beautiful and brightly colored beads, and as I added these beads to the golden coins and closed the treasure box…I was tickled with delight at the thought of my son digging up this wonderful treasure chest. Of course, I buried it secretly on the beach, and made a very authentic – looking treasure map, complete with tattered and burnt edges. I couldn’t wait…and the day finally came…and…it was a disaster! Knowing now what his “Day at the Beach” was really like…I am sure you can picture the scenario, and it wasn’t pretty. We spent the rest of the beautiful day in our hotel room, and he took a long nap from pure exhaustion from the sensory overload…and I wept, all afternoon. Looking back, of course I was extremely disappointed to say the least, but on a much broader scale, I ultimately felt like a failure as a mother. After all the main focus for us as parents is for our children to be happy. We will go to great lengths, and never mind the struggle, just to get that “smile of wonder” and that “giggle of delight”, as these things complete us, and fulfill us as parents. The reverse is also true, when we cannot help our children find happiness, it is completely frustrating and heart wrenching, and most times a fruitless struggle. Those on the Autism Spectrum have some very bewildering sensory issues, as some of their senses are overly sensitive, and yet others under sensitive…add to the confusion , and you will find that there is varying combinations of overly and under sensory issues and degrees, and all unique to each individual. I used to say, “If only I could get inside my little boy, and see the world through his eyes and ears…I would know...I would KNOW…” It’s been about a year since that notorious “Treasure Hunt”, and there have been some remarkable, and wonderfully successful changes with my little boy Levi, that has started his life and mine to move forward, and it’s as if a new day is dawning, and the sun is rising in my heart. Each day since we have started Hemispheric Integration Therapy, has been as a great relief to his little soul, as each day, he eases more and more into a normalcy of sensory input…and there is a serenity in his face now, where there once was only a frustrated look of anguish in that little face, with eyes that held the all the world’s problems in them. Now those little eyes look squarely into mine…and I feel I can exhale, and then I smile through the happiest of tears at the peacefulness that lies in those beautiful green eyes of his. I still have pictures of that “Day at the Beach”, and I look at them every now and then…and with “bittersweet” reflection of this occasion. The reason that this memory is not just a “bitter” one…well let me put it this way…Nowadays…”A Day at the Beach”…is truly…and most wonderfully... “A Glorious… Day at the Beach” By, Kimberly Larochelle
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